Book Review: "Not Much of a Crime"

Well folks, as promised, here's the latest review from my peer Mr. Jablome. The book is called "Not Much of a Crime" by Steven W Johnson

Review by H. W. Jablome

Not Much Of A Crime is, at first glance, a kind of conventional murder mystery, since its first scene involves a vehicular homicide that takes place under obviously suspicious circumstances; but in fact, the book differs from the stock and trade of the genre, in ways that both entertain and (somewhat) disappoint.

First, to be fair, Not Much Of A Crime does have a number of good points. The book includes a number of idiosyncratic, vividly-described characters, foremost among whom is one “Allison King” a.k.a. “Amy Goodlove”, a seductively beautiful actress and entrepreneur in the adult film industry, who is simultaneously trying to keep her porno business afloat, run for local elective office in Charleston, develop the local economy and, most of all, stay alive... since there is a murderer in the neighborhood.

The author's prose style is excellent, with crisp, believable dialogue, commendable economy of words and an especially good, atmospheric way of describing settings and scenery. (As a side note, Mr. Johnson seems to relish describing “Allison”'s dress style, frequently going to some length to depict exactly what this character is wearing at any particular time... it worked for me, although others might find this to be a bit overboard.)

Most of the plot, which certainly holds one's interest throughout the book, revolves around the political corruption and corresponding machinations of a small Nevada town named “Charleston”. (Editorial Note : Charleston, in fact, does appear to be a real jurisdiction within the State of Nevada, but it is currently a ghost town.)

Now for the so-so factors affecting this novel.

While Allison / Amy – along with her bodyguard, “Lacy Wu”, the local sheriff, “Wayne Dogstar” and a number of others – is a genuinely interesting character, the plot revolves around her in a way that, at least for me, was unsatisfying. It is an unwritten rule of the murder mystery genre that an alert reader should – within very broad limits – be able to guess, or at least strongly suspect, “whodunit”, by paying careful attention to the goings-on in the first half of this kind of novel.

Yet, with Not Much Of A Crime, doing so would be almost impossible for anyone who didn't read far ahead, since the motive of the actual culprit is only superficially described early on in the book; indeed, when I finally got to the chapter where everything was made clear (and this comes very late in the narrative), I found myself thinking, “well, how could I possibly have guessed that it would be...”.

The apparent centrality of Allison King to the book's crime scenes even carries over to the summary its back cover... but, at least to this reviewer, it seemed that “Amy” could have been dropped from the plot altogether, and the dastardly deeds(s) still would have occurred, one way or another. This may have been intentional on the part of the author, in the sense of setting up a huge “red herring” to distract the reader from inferring what is really going on... if so, the charade certainly worked for me!

Be all this as it may, Not Much Of A Crime is still worth adding to your murder mystery collection; if you read the book without any pre-conceptions about what you're going to encounter, you'll be entertained from start to finish.

Just don't go looking for the delicious “Amy Goodlove”, once you're finished. Sadly, she exists only in fiction.